Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Edge of the Axe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 20, 2020

Have you noticed that, in the west, anyway, any given state’s largest city can often host a university for that state named after the state? In that regard, Salt Lake City is home to the University of Utah, and Seattle is home to the University of Washington. Kind of interestingly given the fact that my hometown of Portland is Oregon’s biggest city, several of the actual universities here have Portland rather than Oregon in their names (the University of Oregon is in Eugene, and Oregon State University is in Corvallis). Those institutions of learning include Portland Community College, Portland State University and the University of Portland, a Catholic college rather gorgeously perched on a bluff above the Willamette River in North Portland. Perhaps at least a bit hilariously (if only for Oregonians), this leafy campus gets a sidebar mention in the kind of gonzo but entertaining Edge of the Axe, a film which otherwise is supposed to be several hundred miles south of Portland in Northern California. It’s kind of ironic in a way that the University of Portland gets a passing mention in the film, since the character doing that very mentioning, a young woman named Lillian (Christina Marie Lane), does so in the context of researching a career in the medical field, and there is a huge “teaching” hospital and school here in Portland that is called the Oregon Health Sciences University, a kind of humongous facility that has part of its campus perched on another bluff overlooking not just the Willamette River but downtown Portland as well (there's a pretty famous gondola like tram that runs between the "higher" and "lower" OHSU campuses, which has perhaps unexpectedly become a bit of a tourist attraction in town). Lillian would have no doubt received a fine education at OHSU, though the film, which engages in almost nonstop positing of red herrings and other misdirection, might be making the case that a medical career is really the last thing on Lillian's mind.

Edge of the Axe has several pretty gory murder scenes, even if some of them are also pretty hokey at the same time. The first of these takes place right off the bat (and/or axe) as a woman who seems to actually be some kind of medical professional is taking her car through one of those automatic car washes. In just the first of several completely unexplained and arguably underdeveloped kill sequences, a masked character suddenly appears in the car wash, smashing through the woman's windshield with an axe, and then smashing through the woman with an axe. In the first of several kind of delirious uses of blood in the imagery, the woman's guts mix with the suds from the car wash.

Soon enough the story segues to a remote town somewhere on Highway 18 (as indicated by some clearly visible signage, though the film was evidently shot mostly in Madrid by director José Ramón Larraz, credited as Joseph Braunstein), where a motorcycle riding dude named Gerald Martin (Barton Faulks) is informed by his landlord (?) Brock (Elmer Modling) that a big new package has arrived for Gerald, which turns out to be a supposedly "high tech" new computer. It may not exactly be HAL, but it does talk in a halting male voice, which allows the film to provide several quasi-instant messaging sequences between Gerald and Lillian (who of course end up meeting and falling in love, with Gerald gifting Lillian with another computer) where the computers "read" texts between the two. Meanwhile, a rather alarming number of bodies has begun turning up in so-called Paddock County, but it takes the local constabulary, led by Frank McIntosh (Fred Holliday), a good, long while to decide something "evil" is happening (McIntosh seems spectacularly uninterested earlier when a woman finds a severed hog's head in her bed).

The film introduces a whole host of supporting characters, many of whom meet gruesome fates along the way, but the screenplay really only goes so far in providing "alternate" suspects, since the story is rather tightly wound around Gerald (who, among other things, has assembled a database on the murder victims, has a suspicious scar on his neck and who doesn't want to talk about his parents) and Lillian (who has a supposedly crazy cousin named Charlie, but who is also harboring several secrets). Nothing ever makes much sense in Edge of the Axe, at least when thought about post-splatter scene, especially since one of the aforementioned characters really doesn't have too much trouble figuring out the connection between all of the victims and who's doing the murdering. As to why this particular murderer needs to don a mask and to use an axe to gruesomely slice and dice their way through a litany of horrified victims, that's just one of several unanswered questions Edge of the Axe leaves swirling through dripping blood (and/or suds) as the film ends.

Note: This is a propos of nothing very meaningful other than a passing observation, but did Coca Cola have some kind of marketing tie in to this film? Just pay attention to how many times Cokes are displayed and even mentioned in dialogue throughout the film; it's kind of funny after a while.

Edge of the Axe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Edge of the Axe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

Edge of the Axe / Al Filo del Hacha is presented in both English and Spanish versions in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative element was scanned in 2K resolution on a 4K Scanity, graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London. The original mono mixes were remastered from the optical negatives by Deluxe Madrid.

All materials for this restoration were made available by Paul Rich and José Frade P.C.

This is a very winning looking presentation which preserves the sometimes lurid palette of the piece (especially with regard to some of the blood splatter effects), while also offering a generally very naturally organic looking appearance. Detail levels are routinely excellent in more brightly lit moments, but can tend to falter in some of the darker scenes, scenes which can sometimes be afflicted by a slightly roughhewn looking grain field, as can perhaps be made out in some of the screenshots accompanying the review. Color temperature varies just slightly at times, and a couple of sequences have a slightly bluish undertone. I noticed no major signs of age related wear and tear, and no compression anomalies of any import.

Edge of the Axe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Edge of the Axe features either English or Spanish language tracks offered via LPCM Mono audio. While there's no really huge differences between the two other than the obvious language being spoken, to my ears the Spanish language track is just slightly boxier sounding, without quite the energy in the midrange and low end that the English language track provides. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and there's a rather nice score by Javier Ellioreta which also sounds nicely full bodied.

Edge of the Axe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Gerald's Game (1080p; 11:04) is an interview with actor Barton Faulks, who is also on hand for one of the two commentary tracks (see below).


• The Actor's Grind (1080p; 11:23) is an interview with actor Page Moseley.


• The Pain in Spain (1080p; 7:47) is an interview with special effects and make-up artist Colin Arthur.


• Image Gallery (1080p; 3:30)


• Original Trailer

  English Version (1080p; 2:46)

  
  

  Spanish Version (1080p; 2:46)

• Audio Commentary with Barton Faulks and Matt Rosenblatt


• Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues

As is standard operating procedure for Arrow, a nicely appointed insert booklet is also included.

Edge of the Axe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Edge of the Axe isn't littered with just a surplus of sliced and diced victims, it's also filled with any number of logical inconsistencies, though of course "logic" isn't always the strong suit in any given slasher. The film is stuffed to its veritable gills with a host of characters, which might seem to make the "pickin's" rife with potential suspects, though many armchair sleuths will know that the actual possibilities are manifestly few in number. The film has some pretty graphic kill scenes which should delight lovers of this kind of film, and those who work in IT may get a passing kick out of the supposed "high tech" angle of the computer element. Technical merits are solid, and as usual Arrow has assembled some winning supplements. For lovers of slasher films if for no one else, Edge of the Axe comes Recommended.